Break-in suspect discovered under bed

When Nellie Wylie saw a strange man scrunched up halfway under her bed early one recent morning, she said she was prepared to use her gun.

“I was going to shoot him, but Bobby wouldn’t let me,” the 71-year-old woman said, referring to her neighbor.

Wylie, who lives alone at her Carolina Avenue home, said in the early morning hours Sunday she was convinced an intruder had broken in when she heard snoring coming from a bedroom adjoining her own.

She knew she hadn’t let anybody in her home, but thought at first it was her imagination.

Wylie said a recently broken hip and pain in her legs keep her awake until well into the early morning hours, and Sunday was no exception.

Man discovered under bed

About 1 a.m., Wylie said she let the dog inside after she heard him barking and scratching at the door.

She had just settled in bed again when she thought she heard a man’s snores coming from somewhere in her home.

Wylie said most of the time, if she hears noises in the night, she checks on it herself. But with her recent hip injury, she decided to call a friend.

When the friend arrived, the two checked in the bedroom adjoining Wylie’s.

The pair eventually discovered Matthew Lee Gregg hiding half-way under the bed, a comforter draped over him.

Wylie said she had a gun and told the man not to move or she would shoot him.

She said he was wearing gloves.

‘He laid there till the law come’

Not long after, she called 911 and deputies with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home.

Gregg, 25, of 738 Ross Road in Lincolnton, has been charged with first-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools.

He is being held at the Cleveland County Detention Center with a $250,000 bond.

“He laid there till the law come and got him,” Wylie said.

‘I don’t never get scared’

She said she recognized Gregg as someone who had dated her son’s former girlfriend, but said she never had a conversation with him or had him in her home.

Wylie said Gregg claimed he had broken in just to sleep.

She said she guessed he was up to no good and had been waiting for her to fall asleep.

She said she thought he was on so many drugs, he had passed out instead.

Despite the shock of finding a man hiding under her bed, Wylie said it hasn’t shaken her.

“I don’t never get scared,” she said. “I don’t know why.”

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‘We were fortunate’

Sheriff Alan Norman said it is very unusual to have someone break in while the owners are at home

“We’ve been extremely fortunate that those calls very seldom occur,” Norman said. “We were fortunate the victim was able to suspect something suspicious outside her home, the response of a neighbor and quick law enforcement response led to the arrest and the victim not being physically hurt.”

He said Gregg pried open a bedroom window with a large knife, which was found lying on a picnic table outside the house.

Wylie said his car was found parked back behind her house.

Norman said he doesn’t know what Gregg was doing in Cleveland County, but that the case is still under investigation.